14 students honored with Golden medals, 29 with Firestones

This year 14 students were awarded the Robert M. Golden Medal for Excellence in the Humanities and Creative Arts and 29 students were awarded the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

The Firestone award recognizes students undertaking honors projects in the social, physical and natural sciences and engineering nominated by their academic programs or departments. The Golden award similarly distinguishes students completing honors projects in the humanities or creative projects in the fine arts. The medalists each received an engraved bronze medal, citation and check at an awards ceremony held Saturday in Kresge Auditorium.

The awardees, their hometowns, majors, honors department or program, projects and faculty sponsors follow:

Robert M. Golden Medals for Excellence in the Humanities and Creative Arts

Elaine Auyoung, Irvine, Calif.; English; English honors; "The Pleasure of Understanding: Characterization of the Reader in the Early Novels of Jane Austen"; Rob Polhemus, English.

Valarie Kaur Brar, Clovis, Calif.; international relations and religious studies; religious studies honors; "Targeting the Turban: Sikh Americans and the Aversion Spiral After September 11"; Linda Hess, religious studies.

Garrick Chak, Hacienda Heights, Calif.; music and human biology; music honors; artistic creation in music; Thomas Schultz, music.

Andrea L. Haslanger, Stanford; comparative literature; comparative literature honors; "The Physical Mind and the Thinking World: The Poetry of Wallace Stevens"; Andrea Nightingale, classics and comparative literature.

Jordan E. Kaplan, Los Gatos, Calif.; drama; artistic creation in drama; Alice Rayner, drama.

Calvin Ryan Miaw, Slingerlands, N.Y.; linguistics; interdisciplinary studies in humanities honors; "Language and Politics in the Poetry of Kathy Banggo and the Drama of Alani Apio"; David Palumbo-Liu, comparative literature.

Gabriela R. Rico, Nipomo, Calif.; political science and comparative studies in race and ethnicity; comparative studies in race and ethnicity honors; "Woman, Mother, Grandmother, Sister, Queen: Motherhood, Empowerment and Resistance: Purepecha Women in Two Indigenous Communities in Michoacan, Mexico"; Renato I. Rosaldo Jr., cultural and social anthropology.

Naomi Noelani K. Y. Sakamoto, San Francisco; urban studies; urban studies honors; "Airspace"; Frederic Stout, urban studies.

Kevin W. Scheirer, Loveland, Colo.; international relations and interdisciplinary studies in humanities; interdisciplinary studies in humanities honors; "Nixon en Guatemala: Photographic Narratives of the Political Theater"; Zephyr Frank, history.

Joseph S. Shapiro, Portland, Ore.; economics and ethics in society; ethics in society honors; "The Ethics and Efficacy of Banning Human Kidney Sales"; Kenneth Arrow, economics, and Debra Satz, philosophy.

Kelly Joan Sisson, Fair Oaks, Calif.; American studies; American studies honors; "Diaspora, Diseos and Dead Gringos: Chileno Contract Laborers and the California Gold Rush"; Richard White, history.

Trevor C. Sutton, Greenwich, Conn; history; history honors; "A Life in Print: Knowledge, Books and Power in the World of Gabriel Naudé, 1600-1653"; Paula Findlen, history.

Robin Frances Thurston, Bellingham, Wash.; history; history honors; "Troubled Neighborhoods: The Social Effects of the Northern Ireland Conflict in North and West Belfast, 1974-1994"; Peter Stansky, history.

Joel C. Wallenberg, San Francisco; linguistics; linguistics honors; "A Story of the American Self: A Case Study in Morphological Variation"; Arnold Zwicky, linguistics.

Firestone Medals for Excellence in Undergraduate Research

Eiman Abdel-Azim, Englewood, Colo.; biological sciences and philosophy; biological sciences honors; "Executive Processing and Reward: An fMRI Study of Gender Differences in Brain Activation Elicited by Humor"; Allan L. Reiss, psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

Teresa M. Au, Woodside, Calif.; human biology and psychology; human biology honors; "Social Regulation of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor in the Cichlid Fish, Haplochromis burtoni"; Russell Fernald, psychology.

Ben Blum, Englewood, Colo.; computer science and mathematics; computer science honors; "A Continuation Method for Nash Equilibria in Structured Games"; Daphne Koller, computer science.

Leah M. Brunski, Niskayuna, N.Y.; American studies; School of Education honors program; "In Search of Parent Involvement: A Look at California Charter School Parent Contracts"; Michael Kirst, education.

Elaine M. Chao, Los Altos Hills, Calif.; human biology; human biology honors; "Pushing for Social Change: The Domestic Violence Movement in Taiwan"; Melissa Brown, anthropological sciences.

Elise Cheng, Calabasas, Calif.; biological sciences; biological sciences honors; "Overexpression of Catalase as Neuronal Gene Therapy Against Oxygen Radicals"; Robert Sapolsky, biological sciences.

Nathan D. Doty, Pensacola, Fla.; human biology; human biology honors; "The Impact of Social Identity Cues on Eye Movement During Face Perception"; Jennifer Eberhardt, psychology.

Melanie Mariko Egusa, San Mateo, Calif.; communication; communication honors; "Exploring Nisei and Sansei Responses to and Intergenerational Communication About the Japanese American Internment: A Two-Generation Study"; Laura Leets, communication.

Benjamin P. Eifert, Stanford; international relations and economics; international relations honors; "The Political Economy of Economic Management in Postcolonial Zambia, 1964-2002"; David B. Abernethy, political science.

Alex L. Greninger, Stanford; biological sciences and international relations; Center for International Security and Cooperation honors program; "Beyond the Last Move: Developing Biodefenses to Engineered Anthrax and Smallpox"; Christopher Chyba, Institute for International Studies.

Margaux J. Hall, Bethesda, Md.; management science and engineering; civil engineering honors; "Reconstructing Silicon Valley After the Boom: The Hope of Revitalizing the Region's Industrial Brownfields"; Boyd Paulson, civil and environmental engineering.

Lilly Irani, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.; computer science; science, technology and society honors; "A Different Voice: Women Exploring Stanford Computer Science"; Eric Roberts, computer science.

Stephanie D. Lane, Dallas; African and African American studies and history; African and African American studies honors; "Heritage Tourism and Challenges to African American Identity: A Psychological Study of African American Tourists to Ghana"; Ewart Thomas, psychology.

Leo Lin, Fort Worth, Texas; human biology; human biology honors; "The Molecular Pathways by Which Ethanol and PKC Peptide Modulators Provide Cardioprotection"; Daria Mochly-Rosen, molecular pharmacology.

Duncan N. L. Menge, Corvallis, Ore.; earth systems; Institute for International Studies Goldman honors program; "Phosphorous! Or: Anthropogenic Global Environmental Changes and Phosphorous Limitation: Interactions and Limitations"; Christopher Field, biological sciences.

Alan H. Murphy, Palo Alto; political science; political science honors; "Regionalism and the Suburban Voter"; Luis R. Fraga, political science.

Charles E. Najda, Carlisle, Mass.; computer science and economics; economics honors; "Low-Cost Carriers and Low Fares: Competition and Concentration in the U.S. Airline Industry"; Frank Wolak, economics.

Michael J. Osofsky, New Orleans; psychology; psychology honors; "The Psychological Experience of Security Officers Who Work with Executions"; Philip Zimbardo and Albert Bandura, psychology.

Sarita S. Prabhu, Plano, Texas; political science and symbolic systems; political science honors; "Seeing Eye to Eye: The Representation of Black Interests in Majority-White Districts"; Claudine Gay, political science.

Robert John Schafer, Sacramento; biological sciences; biological sciences honors; "Emergent Behaviors in Foraging Networks of the Red Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus"; Deborah Gordon, biological sciences.

Wendy Y. Sheu, Taipei, Taiwan; economics; economics honors; "Driving Away Inequities: Uncovering the Distributional Effects of a Gasoline Tax"; Lawrence Goulder, economics.

Deena L. Skolnick, Wyckoff, N.J.; symbolic systems; symbolic systems honors; "Interactions Between Mutual Exclusivity and Lexical Contrast in Word Learning"; Anne Fernald, psychology.

Matthew M. Steinberg, Los Angeles; international relations; international relations honors; "A Flawed Approach to State Building: The Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Hercegovina"; James Fearon, political science.

Negin Toosi, McKinney, Texas; psychology and international relations; psychology honors; "Dangerous Moves: Perceptions of Threat, Aggression and Stereotypicality for Black and White Movement"; Jennifer Eberhardt, psychology.

Robin Tsai, Cupertino, Calif.; East Asian studies and economics; East Asian studies honors; "A View from the 'Other' Side: Majority/Minority Identity Formation in Southwest China"; Jackie Armijo, religious studies, and Jean Oi, political science and East Asian studies.

Sarah Elizabeth Umetsu, Stanford; biological sciences; biological sciences honors; "Human TIM-1 and Its Role as an Asthma Susceptibility Gene: Molecular Evidence for the Hygene Hypothesis"; Dale Umetsu, pediatrics.

Nathaniel Parker VanValkenburgh, Tulsa, Okla.; anthropological sciences; anthropological sciences honors; "The Sound of Interregionalism in the Late Late Initial Period and Early Early Horizon: Twenty Strombus galeatus Trumpets from Chavín de Huántar, Peru"; John Rick, anthropological sciences.

Allison Jean Widman, Morristown, N.J.; human biology; human biology honors; "The Cost-Effectiveness of Dose-Dense Versus Conventionally Scheduled Combination Chemotherapy as Postoperative Adjuvant Treatment for Node-Positive Primary Breast Cancer"; Sylvia Plevritis, radiology, and Gillian Sanders, medicine.

Jonathan S. D. Wise, San Antonio, Texas; mathematics; mathematics honors; "Imaginary Quadratic Fields with Class Number One"; Daniel Bump, mathematics.